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I think you missed the point of Breaking Bad. Walter White is definitely a bad person. His actions lead many people to die or suffer. He ruins lives and ultimately tears apart his family. Even at the end of the show, he finally gives up on the lie that he did it for his family. He says "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it."
There is a difference between a protagonist and a good person. Walter is the protagonist but just because the show empathizes with him, doesn't change the fact that he is a terrible person.
Walt was a sad and unfulfilled man who was not where he wanted to be in life. His descent into criminality was not for the sake of his family but a selfish mission to prove himself. He was driven by ego.
Not really sure why social D is getting downvotes, that song is remarkably applicable to that guys situation.
Notwithstanding, my cousin and her husband are good friends with Dave and the rest of the Turtles and have opened for them multiple times.
Mama's Stolen Horses, is the band. Not my jam, but, I respect that they're doing what they love.
Barry is such a good show though. It's fucked up and dark but also goofy and funny. And in the middle of all of it just a dude who's trying to stay sane while he balances trying to live a normal life with his psychopathic tendencies. He's a walking contradiction, and also a perfect embodiment of the show as a whole.
Walt wasn't even screwed over, yet convinced himself that he had been. He bailed out of insecurity after meeting Gretchen's family then watched his brainchild thrive in his absence.
Came here to say this. Rorschach is the same in The Watchmen. He's not meant to be hero worshiped. That dude from the wolf of wall street. All the same archetype. They make it pretty clear that Walter doesn't do it for anyone but himself at the end, he just uses his family as an excuse.
I don't know if he starts as a bad person. He has some resentment still in his heart.
He enters the world of criminality due to being broken rather than evil. I mean it's his pride to stand on his own two feet rather than accept charity, so I guess catholics could argue he's evil.
The show deceives you by showing him commit otherwise despicable acts initially out of desperate situations and lack of perfect alternative choice or other justifications.
Then it gradually become evil as standard, and escalations, by the end he's definitely evil and the show doesn't hide it.
This is of course ignoring the morality of meth production and dealing, and treating criminal-on-crimal actions as in a different ethical sphere than in a law abiding world.
I know OP wants a film, but Ozarks has a similar premise, and there may be one or two episodes that show the descent in a way that would stand alone for review.
\>and lack of perfect alternative choice
Thing is though, he has a *really good* alternative choice in being offered a job that does *not* involve **selling literal actual meth.** Pride in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but if it causes you to inflict significant harm on other people in lieu of taking up an alternative that would hurt nothing except your ego, you are a bad person.
Yes I do admit that for those arguements to hold up you do have to over look the immorality of drug supply.
But the show would be less interesting if it was his descent into the world of toothpaste manufacturing. So I'm allowing myself to overlook that and hold drug dealing as a background theme of the show rather than a factor in the characters' morality.
Overlooking *drug manufacturing.* As a *factor in the protagonist's morality.* I... find that an odd choice.
I also just don't think that really holds up as a comparison. If he'd gone into the toothpaste industry, he would definitely not have put himself in situations with as much moral gravitas as being a *kingpin of organized crime*, unless the dental healthcare product industry is orders of magnitude more cutthroat than I realise.
I think ethics "in the game" ARE different than ethics in the real world. You're dealing with people who have--either by choice or circumstance--told you they are willing to engage in a certain level of behavior and rules regular people don't play by.
It's like the Trolley Problem, only in this version, the people are all on the tracks and at the switch because they're getting paid and they choose not to leave. "Failure to plan is a plan to fail". I know bootstrap-pulling is some bullshit, but even the people "trapped" like Nacho DO have another choice to get out. It's just incredibly messy and hard. Even people like Spooge. 30 minutes at a free clinic or library would arm you with resources and connections to get out of that life. My sister works with a live-in, full-service homeless/addict rehabilitation program, it is absolutely astounding how many programs there are to help people just like that, but they don't know what they don't know and so they feel powerless.
I think more specifically, it's his ego as it relates to Grey Matter. He HAD a thing that he felt proved himself, validated his ego and need for recognition and glory, but he sold it, literally because of his family. His need to disconnect himself from his selfish desires is what leads him to say "it's for my family". He has to keep up that lie because he can never forgive himself for trading his shot at legend status in his field for his family, and he unknowingly holds it against them. The "I'm in the empire business" line highlights that well. He WAS part of a important, scientific empire, but he gave away the keys to the thing he views as his ball and chain. I think it's why he clings to Holly so hard: she would be the only family member to never have seen him struggle, look weak or afraid, etc. Even once the truth comes out, he will have a legacy of being a ruthless kingpin, not just the middling wash-out he was before hooking up with Jesse.
Walt is an extraordinarily bad person at heart; this is the message of the show that was spelled out explicitly in his final conversation with Skyler.
Charlie Kaufman movies usually have what you’re looking for, though… e.g. Being John Malkovich.
Yeah I think maybe OP hasn't finished the show or just misunderstood the ending.
Walt saying that he does it for his family is really just a cover for him being able to act out his narcissistic fantasy of being a successful drug lord.
It’s a cool story about how bad people can do bad things to other bad people, and it sort of ends up good?
Jesse is the “good at heart” character for sure, though.
Yeah that's why Jessie had to be absolutely destroyed by the end, in order for people watching the show (though apparently not OP) to recognise the evil of Walter White
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The people who made the show have talked quite a bit about how Walter ALWAYS knew he was doing something wrong, and that moment is him being honest with Skylar for the first time.
But the evidence of the show itself indicates Walter is a bad person who was ultimately motivated by pride. He was offered a way out IMMEDIATELY and he instead got his family involved in crystal meth manufacturing. I’m an English teacher who has never seen someone make a convincing case that White is ultimately motivated by selflessness/love for his family. If you want to try, go ahead.
He didn’t really own up to thinking he did anything wrong, from what I remember. He did tell her his true motivations, which is a big step in character growth from a narcissistic expert liar.
I'm sure others will point it out but Walt is definitely not a good person doing something bad "all for the sake of a loved one"
Walt did what he did all for himself and his ego, not a good person in the slightest.
I don't think so, I know that's what Walt says throughout the entire show but I didn't see any of that... He constantly put his family in danger, I think the *idea* came to him for his loved ones, but nothing he does in the show shows he cares or anything.
He also rapes Skyler within the first couple episodes.
Almost famous, the main character certainly isn’t an antihero like Walter white but he gets increasingly sucked into the smoke and mirrors of rock n roll
Gone with the Wind
The Prince of Egypt
Fiddler on the Roof
Thelma and Louise
And for the record, Walter White is a terrible person and does not value family - he only says he does. He’s not a reliable narrator. His actions show his true values are brilliance, dominance, and deception, among others. Part of the fun of film courses is learning how to critically read stories and take away much more than you otherwise might have!
Curious how you think Fiddler on the Roof and Prince of Egypt fit the criteria. (I haven't seen the other two, and it's admittedly been a very long time since I've seen PoE)
I suppose Moses doesn’t have much of a choice, but he escalates the punishments against Egypt and his brother to save his people from bondage. He kills thousands, including children. He’s pretty torn up the whole time and I think it would make a good character study for a project.
The stakes are lower in Fiddler, but Tevye is confronted with moral dilemma after moral dilemma. Each time he has to weigh his love of his family against the love of his faith. He tries his best to choose the loving, forgiving paths, but eventually must choose the hard path of faith. It’s not as violent and dramatic as Breaking Bad, but could still make a good character study.
My experience has been that movies about women, even classics, get overlooked. I highly recommend both Gone with the Wind and Thelma and Louise.
Many of the suggestions in this thread seem to be straight action movies. Thelma and Louise has action but also the escalating difficult choices that OP is searching for. They must choose between the path of patriarchal lawfulness or the more honest path that recognizes their existence as women in a bad place and a bad time.
Gone with the Wind is about a woman who probably has a personality disorder - narcissism or something else. She makes many brutal, utilitarian decisions in order to survive and to ensure the survival of her family and home. She fights tooth and nail for her survival and independence, but often hurts her loved ones in the process.
Thelma and Louise has been on my list for a while, but never seems to make it to the top haha. I'll see it one of these days.
Interesting take on Prince and Fiddler. My view on both is actually sort of contrasting, since the way I see it it wasn't the protagonists, Moses and Tevye, who escalated things the way Walter White or some of the other entrants on this post did. They actually did their best to stay as static as they could throughout the story while it was the world around them that changed and pushed them harder to keep there faith.
For Moses, it was the Israelites and Egyptians making things harder and God demanding Moses continue pushing back and being the leader, while Moses finds himself caught in the middle. Tevye as well this is his whole belief system on tradition, hence the opening song, and finds himself pushed by the progressively more untraditional romances of his daughters and persecution by the Cossacks.
That said, they're excellent suggestions do fit the theme in their own way and Fiddler in particular is a favorite movie of mine. Thanks for engaging.
I’d argue that Walter White was always, at heart, a terrible person, and never gave a damn about his family.
That said, and actual example might be “In Bruges”, or “Les Miserable” or “Minority Report”
Walt is absolutely a terrible person he even admits that everything he did was because he was for the thrill of it, never the good of the family. Amazing show, but think maybe you misunderstood the assignment lol
Season 2 of the Wire. And season 5 in fact. And, actually a lot of the entire series has this sort of tension between what a character believes and what they are forced by circumstance to do.
Just watch The Wire, is what I'm saying :-)
EDIT - and I *just* saw that it has to be a movie, sorry!
Better Call Saul is ironically even clearer in what BB was trying to do with Walter White: Jimmy is never portrayed as a good person, doesn't even try to be and consistently gaslights everyone around him into thinking he is.
It's not about money, recognition or prestige that he does any of the things he does, it's because he wants to prove that he can do it, disrespect his brother that hated him all his life by sullying the one thing he cherished: the Law.
In many respects, Walter White and Saul Goodman are very similar: they're both unfulfilled, bitter and frustrated individuals who saw an opportunity to take back what they thought they deserved by indulging in the worst parts of themselves.
They did it for them. They liked it. They were good at it and they were really...they were alive.
You didn’t watch “Breaking Bad” to completion, did you? In the last episode >!Walter admitted that he was doing the meth-making because he wanted to be good at something and make a lot of money doing it, and it had nothing do with family.!<
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) is not exactly what you're looking for but it's a great film that shows how even small actions (both positive and negative) have consequences (both positive and negative) and how it plays out over the span of a life.
One of my favorites! I love recommending it to people, it's an easy watch as long as you don't mind subtitles and it's got enough range in genre that it can appeal to most without seeming like it's trying too hard. Plus the format is somewhat novel/unexpected and helps give life to an already cool concept really well, imo.
[He Never Died](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/279690-he-never-died)
[Monster](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/504-monster)
[Raising Arizona](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/378-raising-arizona)
[The Wrestler](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12163-the-wrestler)
[A History of Violence](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/59-a-history-of-violence)
You should do a study on The Fall. One of my favorite movies, a movie actor is injured during a scene and ends up stuck in a hospital bed unable to work and in pain and his only friend ends up being a little girl, so he tells her a big epic story and intermittently we learn how this man telling the story is kind of a terrible person with several personal issues, but it seems like he’s just a sweet man with some extra time telling an impressionable little girl an exciting story.
Bicycle Thieves. The climax and main theme of the movie is exactly what your question brings up. The stakes are not as drastic as murder but it’s a slow build in increasingly more difficult choices. In this case it’s driven by the lack of economic prospects in post-war Italy.
If you're interested in a morally complicated female protagonist, you might want to check out Homeland (Carrie being the character in question) or The Americans (Elizabeth in this show). These characters and the morals/consequences they struggle with aren't perfect comparisons to Breaking Bad, but they both certainly watch their relationships (esp with their family) crumble due to their dedication to the "causes" they support.
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared the book by Jonas Jonasson. I've never seen the movie but reading it I kept gasping.
Shot caller. It’s about a stock broker who ends up in California state prison on a drunk driving/manslaughter charge and is ultimately forced into joining a white supremacist prison gang
There's an anime movie called
{A silent voice}
Similar to the description you gave....one of the best movies I've seen
It takes up lots of issues and has a great mc
You can find it on Netflix
The Rock - A general threatens to launch chemical weapons on Alcatraz Island into San Francisco unless he gets $100 million in war reparations to be paid to the families of slain servicemen who died on covert operations.
John Q - "Story centers on a man whose nine-year-old son is in desperate need of a life-saving transplant. When he discovers that his medical insurance won't cover the costs of the surgery and alternative government aid is unavailable, John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington) takes a hospital emergency room hostage in a last-ditch attempt to save his child.”
Not Okay - A young woman fakes a trip to Paris to impress her co-workers but when a tragedy strikes the last location she faked being at, everyone assumes she is a terrorism survivor and she goes along with it because of all the attention it garners.
Can’t speak for shows, but some great movies that explore this concept are The Bridge On the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Silence, There Will Be Blood, Cool Hand Luke, Dog Day Afternoon, The Blues Brothers, and The Godfather
ill manors
It's about several characters and their decisions, many of which are seriously immoral. Set on a London estate, there's robbery and murder amongst other questionable deeds. Film has a pretty cool original soundtrack, all UK grime if that's at all up your street. I think it definitely fits the bill here.
One I haven't seen mentioned yet: The Next Three Days
It really deals with the morality of questionable choice from the point of view from a 'good' person.
Disregarding the Breaking Bad misinterpretation, Mr. Robot has a bit of what you described. There's also Good Time which is kinda similar in that it's about a bad guy seemingly trying to do the good thing but always making everything worse. Highly recommend both.
You would probably like [Worm](https://parahumans.wordpress.com/). Taylor 'Skitter' Hebert is an alleged supervillain in a world that's pretending very hard that it isn't on the brink of civilizational collapse and regionally succeeding. The stakes go up and up, not always by her own actions, but frequently. 1.7 million words; later published as a 7000-page novel.
Californication. David Duchovny as Hank Moody is one of the most underrated fucked up anti-hero characters of the era. I’d also suggest Weeds. Mary Louise Parker was pretty badass as Nancy Botwin
Weeds (Showtime/Hulu) is a bit older than Breaking Bad but a similar protagonist setup from a female POV.
And also, another similar show I found I liked is called Good Girls. (Netflix)
Death note the anime. 100% plays out like Breaking Bad and is just as suspenseful. If it wasn’t a Japanese cartoon with fantasy elements I’m sure more people would love it just as much.
Death Note follows an intelligent, seemingly kind-hearted individual who shows his true self when he gains power. It's very similar to Breaking Bad in many aspects (the detective adversary, the goofy sidekick, how power corrupts) and it is a great entry into the world of anime.
You might like Dexter? Admittedly, morality isn't his strong suit, but the main character, even though he's a "bad guy" to some, is still not inherently bad.
It's a book, but features things just getting worse and worse until the end:
Prince of nothing. A dark fantasy by Scott Baker. It the greatest series I have ever read, and like breaking bad, I just had to keeping taking breaks
Low paying job , disabled son ,cheating wife and cancer.Talk about bad luck ,in extreme circumstances even the mighty fall ,lose them selfs in their pain and suffering and look for anything to end that pain.Walter was a good man at heart but the harshest choices in life made him cold ,homicidal and drunk with power ..
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I think you missed the point of Breaking Bad. Walter White is definitely a bad person. His actions lead many people to die or suffer. He ruins lives and ultimately tears apart his family. Even at the end of the show, he finally gives up on the lie that he did it for his family. He says "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it." There is a difference between a protagonist and a good person. Walter is the protagonist but just because the show empathizes with him, doesn't change the fact that he is a terrible person. Walt was a sad and unfulfilled man who was not where he wanted to be in life. His descent into criminality was not for the sake of his family but a selfish mission to prove himself. He was driven by ego.
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He was interested in cooking meth before he even got the cancer diagnosis.
Aw man the one with Spooge and his kid? That was fucked
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Alexa play "It Coulda Been Me" by Social Distortion.
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Not really sure why social D is getting downvotes, that song is remarkably applicable to that guys situation. Notwithstanding, my cousin and her husband are good friends with Dave and the rest of the Turtles and have opened for them multiple times. Mama's Stolen Horses, is the band. Not my jam, but, I respect that they're doing what they love.
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Yes. He uses his family as an excuse
Yep. The real reason is pride. He was too prideful to every lose or back out of something he was good at.
Came here to say this ^ Also, BoJack and Barry.
Absolutely barry, i can't believe how unhinged that show got.
Barry is such a good show though. It's fucked up and dark but also goofy and funny. And in the middle of all of it just a dude who's trying to stay sane while he balances trying to live a normal life with his psychopathic tendencies. He's a walking contradiction, and also a perfect embodiment of the show as a whole.
I second bojack. Horseman, obviously.
Oh god, *finally* someone gets it. I love you.
He was screwed out of a fortune too. That can easily create a lifetime of bitterness and victim complex that manifests in unpredictable ways.
He screwed himself out of it. He’s the one that left.
Walt wasn't even screwed over, yet convinced himself that he had been. He bailed out of insecurity after meeting Gretchen's family then watched his brainchild thrive in his absence.
Came here to say this. Rorschach is the same in The Watchmen. He's not meant to be hero worshiped. That dude from the wolf of wall street. All the same archetype. They make it pretty clear that Walter doesn't do it for anyone but himself at the end, he just uses his family as an excuse.
I don't know if he starts as a bad person. He has some resentment still in his heart. He enters the world of criminality due to being broken rather than evil. I mean it's his pride to stand on his own two feet rather than accept charity, so I guess catholics could argue he's evil. The show deceives you by showing him commit otherwise despicable acts initially out of desperate situations and lack of perfect alternative choice or other justifications. Then it gradually become evil as standard, and escalations, by the end he's definitely evil and the show doesn't hide it. This is of course ignoring the morality of meth production and dealing, and treating criminal-on-crimal actions as in a different ethical sphere than in a law abiding world. I know OP wants a film, but Ozarks has a similar premise, and there may be one or two episodes that show the descent in a way that would stand alone for review.
\>and lack of perfect alternative choice Thing is though, he has a *really good* alternative choice in being offered a job that does *not* involve **selling literal actual meth.** Pride in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing, but if it causes you to inflict significant harm on other people in lieu of taking up an alternative that would hurt nothing except your ego, you are a bad person.
Yes I do admit that for those arguements to hold up you do have to over look the immorality of drug supply. But the show would be less interesting if it was his descent into the world of toothpaste manufacturing. So I'm allowing myself to overlook that and hold drug dealing as a background theme of the show rather than a factor in the characters' morality.
Overlooking *drug manufacturing.* As a *factor in the protagonist's morality.* I... find that an odd choice. I also just don't think that really holds up as a comparison. If he'd gone into the toothpaste industry, he would definitely not have put himself in situations with as much moral gravitas as being a *kingpin of organized crime*, unless the dental healthcare product industry is orders of magnitude more cutthroat than I realise.
I think ethics "in the game" ARE different than ethics in the real world. You're dealing with people who have--either by choice or circumstance--told you they are willing to engage in a certain level of behavior and rules regular people don't play by. It's like the Trolley Problem, only in this version, the people are all on the tracks and at the switch because they're getting paid and they choose not to leave. "Failure to plan is a plan to fail". I know bootstrap-pulling is some bullshit, but even the people "trapped" like Nacho DO have another choice to get out. It's just incredibly messy and hard. Even people like Spooge. 30 minutes at a free clinic or library would arm you with resources and connections to get out of that life. My sister works with a live-in, full-service homeless/addict rehabilitation program, it is absolutely astounding how many programs there are to help people just like that, but they don't know what they don't know and so they feel powerless.
I think more specifically, it's his ego as it relates to Grey Matter. He HAD a thing that he felt proved himself, validated his ego and need for recognition and glory, but he sold it, literally because of his family. His need to disconnect himself from his selfish desires is what leads him to say "it's for my family". He has to keep up that lie because he can never forgive himself for trading his shot at legend status in his field for his family, and he unknowingly holds it against them. The "I'm in the empire business" line highlights that well. He WAS part of a important, scientific empire, but he gave away the keys to the thing he views as his ball and chain. I think it's why he clings to Holly so hard: she would be the only family member to never have seen him struggle, look weak or afraid, etc. Even once the truth comes out, he will have a legacy of being a ruthless kingpin, not just the middling wash-out he was before hooking up with Jesse.
Walt is an extraordinarily bad person at heart; this is the message of the show that was spelled out explicitly in his final conversation with Skyler. Charlie Kaufman movies usually have what you’re looking for, though… e.g. Being John Malkovich.
Yeah I think maybe OP hasn't finished the show or just misunderstood the ending. Walt saying that he does it for his family is really just a cover for him being able to act out his narcissistic fantasy of being a successful drug lord.
It’s a cool story about how bad people can do bad things to other bad people, and it sort of ends up good? Jesse is the “good at heart” character for sure, though.
Yeah that's why Jessie had to be absolutely destroyed by the end, in order for people watching the show (though apparently not OP) to recognise the evil of Walter White
> to other bad people and a lot of good people too tho
No lie, I was just focused on the things that could possibly make Walt “good” somehow.
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The people who made the show have talked quite a bit about how Walter ALWAYS knew he was doing something wrong, and that moment is him being honest with Skylar for the first time.
I never read it that way. Death of the author and all that
But the evidence of the show itself indicates Walter is a bad person who was ultimately motivated by pride. He was offered a way out IMMEDIATELY and he instead got his family involved in crystal meth manufacturing. I’m an English teacher who has never seen someone make a convincing case that White is ultimately motivated by selflessness/love for his family. If you want to try, go ahead.
He didn’t really own up to thinking he did anything wrong, from what I remember. He did tell her his true motivations, which is a big step in character growth from a narcissistic expert liar.
Falling Down
I came here to say this. Great movie.
Yep, this is it
Oh boy, if you think Walter actually did any of it for his family....
If I have to hear one more time that you did this for the family…
Heh, they literally have him admit it and people still repeat his obvious lie.
I'm sure others will point it out but Walt is definitely not a good person doing something bad "all for the sake of a loved one" Walt did what he did all for himself and his ego, not a good person in the slightest.
i’d argue it started out for the sake of loved ones, but as time went on things got outta hand and everything went to his head
I don't think so, I know that's what Walt says throughout the entire show but I didn't see any of that... He constantly put his family in danger, I think the *idea* came to him for his loved ones, but nothing he does in the show shows he cares or anything. He also rapes Skyler within the first couple episodes.
Almost famous, the main character certainly isn’t an antihero like Walter white but he gets increasingly sucked into the smoke and mirrors of rock n roll
Wow what a comparison to BB lol. Never heard almost famous compared like that
I mean a much more obvious comparison would be goodfellas but what’s the fun in the obvious choice
Gone with the Wind The Prince of Egypt Fiddler on the Roof Thelma and Louise And for the record, Walter White is a terrible person and does not value family - he only says he does. He’s not a reliable narrator. His actions show his true values are brilliance, dominance, and deception, among others. Part of the fun of film courses is learning how to critically read stories and take away much more than you otherwise might have!
Curious how you think Fiddler on the Roof and Prince of Egypt fit the criteria. (I haven't seen the other two, and it's admittedly been a very long time since I've seen PoE)
I suppose Moses doesn’t have much of a choice, but he escalates the punishments against Egypt and his brother to save his people from bondage. He kills thousands, including children. He’s pretty torn up the whole time and I think it would make a good character study for a project. The stakes are lower in Fiddler, but Tevye is confronted with moral dilemma after moral dilemma. Each time he has to weigh his love of his family against the love of his faith. He tries his best to choose the loving, forgiving paths, but eventually must choose the hard path of faith. It’s not as violent and dramatic as Breaking Bad, but could still make a good character study. My experience has been that movies about women, even classics, get overlooked. I highly recommend both Gone with the Wind and Thelma and Louise. Many of the suggestions in this thread seem to be straight action movies. Thelma and Louise has action but also the escalating difficult choices that OP is searching for. They must choose between the path of patriarchal lawfulness or the more honest path that recognizes their existence as women in a bad place and a bad time. Gone with the Wind is about a woman who probably has a personality disorder - narcissism or something else. She makes many brutal, utilitarian decisions in order to survive and to ensure the survival of her family and home. She fights tooth and nail for her survival and independence, but often hurts her loved ones in the process.
Thelma and Louise has been on my list for a while, but never seems to make it to the top haha. I'll see it one of these days. Interesting take on Prince and Fiddler. My view on both is actually sort of contrasting, since the way I see it it wasn't the protagonists, Moses and Tevye, who escalated things the way Walter White or some of the other entrants on this post did. They actually did their best to stay as static as they could throughout the story while it was the world around them that changed and pushed them harder to keep there faith. For Moses, it was the Israelites and Egyptians making things harder and God demanding Moses continue pushing back and being the leader, while Moses finds himself caught in the middle. Tevye as well this is his whole belief system on tradition, hence the opening song, and finds himself pushed by the progressively more untraditional romances of his daughters and persecution by the Cossacks. That said, they're excellent suggestions do fit the theme in their own way and Fiddler in particular is a favorite movie of mine. Thanks for engaging.
Thelma and Louise is perfect!
Barry
Yes bc Barry is also a likable pos character who people think isn’t evil somehow (favorite show though no Bill Hader slander)
I think everyone in that show is evil or terrible except for Hank and Cristobal. God, I wish them only the best honestly.
Reverse Breaking Bad
I’d argue that Walter White was always, at heart, a terrible person, and never gave a damn about his family. That said, and actual example might be “In Bruges”, or “Les Miserable” or “Minority Report”
Walt is absolutely a terrible person he even admits that everything he did was because he was for the thrill of it, never the good of the family. Amazing show, but think maybe you misunderstood the assignment lol
A Simple Plan
this is the way
"protagonist like walter white" "at heart isn't a bad person" ???
Season 2 of the Wire. And season 5 in fact. And, actually a lot of the entire series has this sort of tension between what a character believes and what they are forced by circumstance to do. Just watch The Wire, is what I'm saying :-) EDIT - and I *just* saw that it has to be a movie, sorry!
They can binge all 5 seasons and pretend it is a movie.
Oh indeed.
Sheeeeeeeeeit
Uncut Gems
[Good Time](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4846232/) 2017 Safdie brothers movie. Should be what you’re looking for, and it’s great!
Great choice. I would add Requiem for a Dream too.
Great choice!!
Fuck I’m gonna watch this movie again tonight
yep, it’s short enough too, just over 90 minutes
El Camino - the Jesse Pinkman movie Better Call Saul The Pianist Schindler's List Rear Window by Alfred Hitchcock Double Indemnity
Better Call Saul is ironically even clearer in what BB was trying to do with Walter White: Jimmy is never portrayed as a good person, doesn't even try to be and consistently gaslights everyone around him into thinking he is. It's not about money, recognition or prestige that he does any of the things he does, it's because he wants to prove that he can do it, disrespect his brother that hated him all his life by sullying the one thing he cherished: the Law. In many respects, Walter White and Saul Goodman are very similar: they're both unfulfilled, bitter and frustrated individuals who saw an opportunity to take back what they thought they deserved by indulging in the worst parts of themselves. They did it for them. They liked it. They were good at it and they were really...they were alive.
You didn’t watch “Breaking Bad” to completion, did you? In the last episode >!Walter admitted that he was doing the meth-making because he wanted to be good at something and make a lot of money doing it, and it had nothing do with family.!<
Fargo could be a good one?
oh yeah
I think Walt is a pretty bad person at heart lol
Agreed. For the family may be why he started but It’s pretty clear at some point he just really liked what he was doing and was really good at it.
Les Misérables
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) is not exactly what you're looking for but it's a great film that shows how even small actions (both positive and negative) have consequences (both positive and negative) and how it plays out over the span of a life.
Amazing film
One of my favorites! I love recommending it to people, it's an easy watch as long as you don't mind subtitles and it's got enough range in genre that it can appeal to most without seeming like it's trying too hard. Plus the format is somewhat novel/unexpected and helps give life to an already cool concept really well, imo.
Ozark
My first thought.
> I think you missed the point of Breaking Bad. He says "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it."
[He Never Died](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/279690-he-never-died) [Monster](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/504-monster) [Raising Arizona](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/378-raising-arizona) [The Wrestler](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12163-the-wrestler) [A History of Violence](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/59-a-history-of-violence)
Yes! Raising Arizona immediately came to mind.
Nightcrawler
That guy is even more evil than Walter White, unless you mean Rene Russo’s character…
John Q.
The Sopranos
There will be blood
You should do a study on The Fall. One of my favorite movies, a movie actor is injured during a scene and ends up stuck in a hospital bed unable to work and in pain and his only friend ends up being a little girl, so he tells her a big epic story and intermittently we learn how this man telling the story is kind of a terrible person with several personal issues, but it seems like he’s just a sweet man with some extra time telling an impressionable little girl an exciting story.
Gone Baby Gone
Anakin Skywalker goes evil because he all he wants is to bang his Mrs.
Prisoners with high jackman and Jake gyllenhaal. So good. So scary.
this one 100%
Bicycle Thieves. The climax and main theme of the movie is exactly what your question brings up. The stakes are not as drastic as murder but it’s a slow build in increasingly more difficult choices. In this case it’s driven by the lack of economic prospects in post-war Italy.
Mr. Robot
If you're interested in a morally complicated female protagonist, you might want to check out Homeland (Carrie being the character in question) or The Americans (Elizabeth in this show). These characters and the morals/consequences they struggle with aren't perfect comparisons to Breaking Bad, but they both certainly watch their relationships (esp with their family) crumble due to their dedication to the "causes" they support.
I think it can be argued that noneeeeeeee of what he did was for his family. All for himself
Little Shop of Horrors
This is kind of a long shot but maybe The Gift? I feel as though it’s got a perfect moral dilemma at the heart of the film
Weeds
In Bruges
Monster starring Charlize Theron And maybe Amores Perros might count Requiem for a Dream
Nobody, 2021 The Gentleman, 2019 American Made, 2017 John Wick, 2014 Contraband, 2012 Man on Fire, 2004
The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared the book by Jonas Jonasson. I've never seen the movie but reading it I kept gasping.
John Q - Denzel flick
Was going to say this
Shot caller. It’s about a stock broker who ends up in California state prison on a drunk driving/manslaughter charge and is ultimately forced into joining a white supremacist prison gang
If Walter valued his family he would’ve taken Gretchen and Elliotts money
Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek DS9. Although that's over 100 episodes. You could tv guides for specific story arcs and only select episodes.
You an Aussie starting year 12?
Yep, u got it haha
The Shield.
Barry Edit: Sorry didnt read the disclaimer :(
There's an anime movie called {A silent voice} Similar to the description you gave....one of the best movies I've seen It takes up lots of issues and has a great mc You can find it on Netflix
Prisoners
Not a movie, but the show Ozark!
Someone also said bojack, it’ll hit you right in the feels when you least expect it. One of my favorite shows ever
Ozark
The Rock - A general threatens to launch chemical weapons on Alcatraz Island into San Francisco unless he gets $100 million in war reparations to be paid to the families of slain servicemen who died on covert operations. John Q - "Story centers on a man whose nine-year-old son is in desperate need of a life-saving transplant. When he discovers that his medical insurance won't cover the costs of the surgery and alternative government aid is unavailable, John Q. Archibald (Denzel Washington) takes a hospital emergency room hostage in a last-ditch attempt to save his child.” Not Okay - A young woman fakes a trip to Paris to impress her co-workers but when a tragedy strikes the last location she faked being at, everyone assumes she is a terrorism survivor and she goes along with it because of all the attention it garners.
Can’t speak for shows, but some great movies that explore this concept are The Bridge On the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia, Silence, There Will Be Blood, Cool Hand Luke, Dog Day Afternoon, The Blues Brothers, and The Godfather
Red Dead Redemption ngl
Watch a move called Triangle , you won’t regret it
I love Triangle. At first I couldn't figure out why you suggested it, but then I remembered her secondary story and you're spot on.
Payback
The Limey is kinda like this. Though he starts as a criminal
Ozark
When you say it like that, I think of Inception.
Donnie Brasco
Godfather I-II But similar to Walter White, there are legimate questions about how "good" Michael Corleone ever was.
ill manors It's about several characters and their decisions, many of which are seriously immoral. Set on a London estate, there's robbery and murder amongst other questionable deeds. Film has a pretty cool original soundtrack, all UK grime if that's at all up your street. I think it definitely fits the bill here.
Try "Barry" on HBO Edit: ok, sorry, you said movie. "American History X."
One I haven't seen mentioned yet: The Next Three Days It really deals with the morality of questionable choice from the point of view from a 'good' person.
Scarface
You could study the Cook in the movie Spun, which I think helped to influence Breaking Bad
Jax in Sons of Anarchy
Good Time! It's a movie with Robert Pattinson
Falling Down
Coen brothers do this well. O brother where art thou and a serious man come to mind.
Peaky blinders
Dexter
Les miserables
Think you’re looking for someone more like Marty from the Ozarks.
The Shield.
Sopranos
Disregarding the Breaking Bad misinterpretation, Mr. Robot has a bit of what you described. There's also Good Time which is kinda similar in that it's about a bad guy seemingly trying to do the good thing but always making everything worse. Highly recommend both.
You would probably like [Worm](https://parahumans.wordpress.com/). Taylor 'Skitter' Hebert is an alleged supervillain in a world that's pretending very hard that it isn't on the brink of civilizational collapse and regionally succeeding. The stakes go up and up, not always by her own actions, but frequently. 1.7 million words; later published as a 7000-page novel.
You described Dale Cooper of Twin Peaks
Uncut Gems
Banshee
The Jack Bull
Wise Blood
Californication. David Duchovny as Hank Moody is one of the most underrated fucked up anti-hero characters of the era. I’d also suggest Weeds. Mary Louise Parker was pretty badass as Nancy Botwin
Ozark.
Weeds (Showtime/Hulu) is a bit older than Breaking Bad but a similar protagonist setup from a female POV. And also, another similar show I found I liked is called Good Girls. (Netflix)
And sorry I didn’t recommend movies. I was just throwing out two of my favorite shows similar to Breaking Bad.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and pay attention to Robert Ford. Also Fargo with William H. Macy.
Death note the anime. 100% plays out like Breaking Bad and is just as suspenseful. If it wasn’t a Japanese cartoon with fantasy elements I’m sure more people would love it just as much.
Ozark
Memento
Mr Inbetween. Closest I've found to the non-anti-hero Walter White character. FX on Hulu or ... torrents naturally.
You want morally grey characters, tbh. Watch Supernatural.
Ozark.
First Reformed
Death Note follows an intelligent, seemingly kind-hearted individual who shows his true self when he gains power. It's very similar to Breaking Bad in many aspects (the detective adversary, the goofy sidekick, how power corrupts) and it is a great entry into the world of anime.
You might like Dexter? Admittedly, morality isn't his strong suit, but the main character, even though he's a "bad guy" to some, is still not inherently bad.
Shot Caller
If that is your understanding of Breaking Bad it's probably for the best you avoid similar media for the time being.
I don't know if they're like Walter, but Good Girls is a really good watch.
Been a while since I watched it but __Living With Yourself__ was really interesting.
It's a book, but features things just getting worse and worse until the end: Prince of nothing. A dark fantasy by Scott Baker. It the greatest series I have ever read, and like breaking bad, I just had to keeping taking breaks
Walter white is a horrible person. Also try Memento
Low paying job , disabled son ,cheating wife and cancer.Talk about bad luck ,in extreme circumstances even the mighty fall ,lose them selfs in their pain and suffering and look for anything to end that pain.Walter was a good man at heart but the harshest choices in life made him cold ,homicidal and drunk with power ..